Cracked pipe forces Czech Unipetrol to shut down steam cracker

LONDON (ICIS)--Czech petrochemical producer Unipetrol is shutting down its 545,000 tonne/year steam cracker for unplanned repairs, the company said on Tuesday.

The repairs, centred on a cracked pipe that is causing steam leakage, would start on Tuesday 16 July and take about 13 days, it added.

The shutdown of the cracker - at Chempark Zaluzi, in Litvinov in the northern Czech Republic - would also necessarily trigger the temporary closure of Unipetrol’s 275,000 tonne/year polypropylene (PP) unit and might lead to stoppages in refinery units, the company said.

Unipetrol said a preliminary estimate showed that the total negative impact of the shutdowns on the company’s full-year 2013 earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) would be approximately koruna (Kc) 50m ($2.5m, €1.9m).

Poland’s PKN Orlen oil and petrochemical group holds a 63% stake in Unipetrol.